


Nightmares

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-15 00:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21244322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Joyce are you ok?” He sounded alert for three in the morning and she wondered if he was as plagued as her by nightmares, “What’s happened?”She was relieved that she could hear his voice but with every sharp breath she took the shadows seemed to creep in on her, threatening to swallow her whole, “Hopper I- I really need you here. Can- can you please-““Give me ten minutes I’ll be there.” The line fell silent and Joyce slid against the wall to the ground her hands covering her face, eyes tightly closed shut.





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like this  
Also Happy Birthday Winona for yesterday you’re amazing and deserve the world :-)

Joyce woke with a start clutching onto her pillow with white knuckles and tears running down her face. She swung her legs so she sat on the edge of the bed and held her head in her shaking hands. 

She needed to know if he was okay, if he was still alive so she jumped out of bed to dial the familiar number and clutched the phone to her face. It rang twice before he picked up.

“Hop- Hopper.” Joyce trembled as she leant against the wall in her pitch black room her voice barley a whisper. 

“Joyce are you ok?” He sounded alert for three in the morning and she wondered if he was as plagued as her by nightmares, “What’s happened?”

She was relieved that she could hear his voice but with every sharp breath she took the shadows seemed to creep in on her, threatening to swallow her whole, “Hopper I- I really need you here. Can- can you please-“ 

“Give me ten minutes I’ll be there.” The line fell silent and Joyce slid against the wall to the ground her hands covering her face, eyes tightly closed shut. 

***  
Hopper drove as fast as he could taking full advantage of the clear roads at this time of night. He gripped onto the steering wheel tightly and took a breath out promising himself that he will look after Joyce and try to make her worries go away. It wasn’t unusual to pick up the phone in the middle of the night to hear Joyce mutter his name and then they would talk sometimes until the kids woke up. She never asked him over as she knew he couldn’t leave El on her own but she was at the Wheelers along with Will and Jonathon. 

What if she was having a panic attack? What if she was on the edge and one more moment without comfort would tip her over? 

Hopper pulled into her drive and got out of his car quickly. He practically ran to the door and knocked lightly twice. Hopper grew worried as she didn’t open the door, he ran his hand through his hair and checked to see if the door was unlocked. It was. 

“Joyce, I’m coming in.” 

He rushed in closing the door behind him with a soft click. She was curled in a ball her head against her knees, his heart dropped into his stomach as he saw her so broken.

Hopper placed a hand on her shoulder and she gasped, her head abruptly shooting up. Joyce breaths were quick and sharp, tears running down her face. She relaxed slightly once seeing it was him and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. 

“Joyce you need to breath okay?” Hopper pulled away from her and brushed her tangled hair out of her face, “you need to breath.” 

“I can’t- I-“ Joyce grabbed onto his hand and looked around her at all of the shadows, all of the darkness. 

“Joyce look at me.” Hopper tried to stay calm fighting of images of a breathless Sara, he looked into her eyes and tried to smile reassuringly, “The kids are safe. You are safe.” 

She bit her bottom lip, her breathing returning to normal. 

“Hop. I’m so sorry.” Joyce wondered when she had become the person that got so panicked so easily. 

“Don’t you dare apologise. Don’t you ever even think you ever need to apologise to me okay?” Hopper cupped her cheek stroking it with his thumb. “Was it another nightmare?”

Joyce nodded slowly. 

“Do you- do you want to talk about it?” Hopper asked concerned. 

“You don’t have to- to do this, you don’t have to be here with me if you don’t want to.” Joyce noticed how close they were, how she was practically sitting on his lap. Their hands still linked. 

“Of course I want to stay Joyce.” 

Hopper put his arm around her pulling her closer to him and then planting a drawn out kiss on her head. She closed her eyes contently and took a breath out. 

“Maybe I should turn a light on?” Joyce wondered aloud.

“You know I have always preferred sitting in the dark but if you must.” Hopper replied teasingly. 

“After my light bills last year that would seem like a good idea.” Joyce smiled at the sound of Hopper’s chuckle. 

He pulled away and they both stood up glad that they had made each other smile. 

Light filled the room with a flick of a switch and Hopper saw more clearly the simply beautiful woman that had needed him. He was happier knowing that him being here had brought her out of her own personal hell better known as the nightmares and thoughts that ran through her head. 

Joyce sat down on the couch shivering and patted the space next to her. Hop took of his coat and wrapped it around her, her eyes widened slightly at the gesture. She liked how it was so much bigger on her how it smelt like him. Silence sneaked up on them as she reached out and took his hand, their eyes locked and Joyce wondered what she would ever do without him. 

“It was different this time.” She said breaking the silence. 

“Different?” Hopper kept track of Joyce’s nightmares just so on days she didn’t want to talk first. They were mostly a mixture of flashbacks of Will and Bob, sometimes instead of losing Will it was Jonathon that had disappeared. 

“It was still at the lab but-“ Joyce dropped his gaze and stared down at her hands. “I didn’t watch Bob die. I- it was you.” 

Hopper squeezed her hand, “Did you want it to be me?” 

“How could you ask me that?” Joyce felt a tear well up in her eye, “Of course I didn’t. Of course I don’t.” She turned up to face him, “I just feel so terrible because-“ 

Joyce let out a small sob Hopper put his arm around her so that her head rested on his arm. 

“It’s okay. You know- you know that you can tell me anything right?” 

“It was worse. Hop it was so much worse.” She brought up her knees and covered them with his coat, “And I- I tried to imagine a world without you in it and- and it just- it hurt so much. It was so horrible.” 

Hopper held onto her tighter, she looked up to face him, it almost made her smile on how lost he looked. Joyce leant closer and he swear he saw her eyes flicker down to his lips. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and he wondered if she could hear it. 

“Joyce.“ He said it in that way of his, like her name meant something more, like she meant something more. 

She closed the space in between them and kissed him gently, Joyce pulled away slowly feeling herself go red. 

“I’m sorry I-“ 

Hopper kissed her hard on the mouth, his arms around her waist Joyce pulling him in closer. They stopped for breath instead of pulling away they put their foreheads together grinning. 

“Was that okay?” Hopper asked. 

“It was more than okay.” Joyce felt the shadows and the darkness ease out of her.

“We’re going to get through this I can promise you when or how but we’re going to get through this together.” 

Joyce took his hand and held it tightly, “Together.” She smiled, “I love you Hop.”

“I love you too Joy.”

Joyce’s eyes snapped open. She lay curled in a ball in her new bed in her new house. Hopper’s coat wasn’t wrapped around her and they weren’t tangled together on her old couch. 

She peered out the window not to see his car and began to walk down the hall barefoot to check on his daughter. El was having less and less terrors but Will still insisted on sleeping on her floor in his sleeping bag. They looked so peaceful.

Everyone seemed to be improving getting at least a little better except from her. 

Joyce resisted the urge to dial his number as she’d done too many times in the past and closed her eyes only to see his face, Hopper’s smile just before she closed the gate. 

The nightmares didn’t scare her as much anymore because she knew that nothing could top the nightmares she had to live in. Him being gone was so unimaginable but now it is actually happening. There was no more together and she didn’t know if she was going to get through this without him. Joyce climbed back into bed not even trying to sleep again because she knew as soon as she closed her eyes all she’d see was him. And she knew that she couldn’t be reminded that all that was left of Jim Hopper was cruel twisted dreams that were conjured up in her head.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so the ending wasn’t supposed to be like this but then it just happened sorry


End file.
